TEXAS LEGISLATURE: State Senate faces tough choices on cuts

Over the past few months, cutting more state funds hasn’t found much of a place in budget writers’ discussions.

Last week the Senate Finance Committee approved the draft of a budget for state government that now goes to the Senate floor.

Most of the budget’s highlights focus on what was added, such as a $226 million increase for community mental health and substance abuse services and mental health waiting list reductions at the Department of State Health Services.

There would be a $746 million increase for higher education and $6 million in general revenue for 50 full-time employees to handle veterans’ issues, according to a release from the chief budget writer.

At one point in conversations and interviews I’ve conducted about the budget, I was referred to a document called the “Real Texas Budget Solutions: 2013 and Beyond” from the conservative think tank the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

The March 2012 document details how to cut “$1.1 billion in 2012-2013 and $8.3 billion in 2014-15 and reducing the future spending growth.”

The document contains standard conservative fodder, from making more charter schools, which state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, has been hard at work on in SB 2, to getting “out from under federal health care and other welfare mandates.” No Medicaid expansion there.

The document suggests undoing the practice of using special funds to balance the budget without spending the money for its intended purpose, a suggestion the Legislature has broadly embraced.

The document does, however, suggest some seemingly drastic moves, such as killing general revenue funding for the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Texas Historical Commission. The governor’s office does not go unscathed.

The document suggests removing funding from the Texas Music Office, Texas Film Commission, Economic Development and Tourism Division and the Texas Enterprise Fund.

Talmadge Heflin, director of the TPPF’s Center for Fiscal Policy, said there is “absolutely” more room for cuts.

He said the Senate’s version of the draft bill that made it through committee is about a billion dollars more expensive than he had hoped for.

He hoped the bill would have about $2 billion to $2.5 billion to work with to cover any mandates from public school funding lawsuits.

Those lawsuits argue that the state has not adequately or equitably funded public schools.

“I believe they made or are making an effort to hold the line where they can” on spending, Heflin said. However, “the things that we called on them to make cuts in were pretty much negated by the fact that they had more money.”

The revenue available to lawmakers has seen about a 12.4 percent increase from the last budgeting session, according to the state comptroller’s reports.

Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, said the budget his committee approved is still conservative.

He said the general revenue spending growth is lower than the spending growth targets he set out to come under at the outset.

“With a state that’s growing as fast as our state is, I think that’s quite an accomplishment,” Williams said.

Naturally, the progressive-minded Center for Public Policy Priorities condemns the Senate version of the budget for being far too stingy.

The draft budget “is $3 billion below that ‘bare bones’ current services line, meaning $3 billion (3%) more in cuts to current services,” Eva De Luna Castro, a senior budget analyst, wrote on a blog post for her organization. “These cuts could still be avoided if House and Senate budget-writers are willing to use remaining General Revenue and the Rainy Day Fund.”

The Rainy Day Fund, fueled by oil and gas moneys and expected to be worth $11.8 billion at the end of the next two years, has been a sacrosanct fund for conservatives, but they have been willing to tap into it for one-time roads and water funding.

Castro lists “Priority 2” items that were left unfunded, including “$135 million for a 50 cent hourly wage increase for community care workers; $154 million to expand community care and prevent waiting lists from getting longer; $24 million for Children with Special Health Care Needs; $19 million for child abuse/neglect prevention programs,” and the list goes on.

It’s not an easy position to be in as a conservative legislator. They have had dozens of committee meetings with people bringing forward financial needs — for veterans, for mental health, for education.

The TPPF report is careful to refer to agencies and programs it believes are superfluous. People, however, are behind agencies and programs. Cutting them shouldn’t be done lightly, if it should be done at all.

Matthew Waller is covering the Legislature for Scripps Texas Newspapers and works in Austin. Contact him at mwaller@gosanangelo.com or via Twitter @waller_matthew.